One key Mikel Arteta decision in Arsenal defeat to Aston Villa may have cost them

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Arsenal fell to their second Premier League defeat of the season as they were beaten by Aston Villa yesterday, in what was a frustrating performance.

Mikel Arteta’s side dominated both possession and shots, and found space in behind on numerous occasions, but were somewhat toothless in attack as they failed to take their chances.

Martin Odegaard in particular, was far from his best as he also squandered some big opportunities as Arsenal found themselves in good attacking positions as Unai Emery’s side played with a high line.

Given the chances Arsenal had, an equaliser almost felt inevitable after John McGinn’s early opener, but they could not find the back of the net.

Mikel Arteta’s wrong decision in Aston Villa defeat

Arteta was watching from the stands, but was still in charge of his team and the substitutions.

Gabriel Martinelli did not have his best game in the final third, but his pace was crucial to Arsenal’s attack, as the Gunners constantly targeted him for passes to run into space.

Plenty of chances stemmed from his side of the pitch, and he was causing Aston Villa’s defence some difficulty with his speed.

It then came as something of a surprise when he was withdrawn for Leandro Trossard in the second half. Trossard has been impressive at times this season, but was ineffective off the bench yesterday.

Arsenal lost their pace going forward, and most of their attacking threat, which saw them dominate the ball and create ample opportunities, vanished following the change.

Reiss Nelson later came on to inject some more pace back into the side, but Arsenal then struggled to break down Villa’s defence apart from a disallowed goal from Kai Havertz.

Do Arsenal have a problem with Leandro Trossard?

Trossard is a popular player amongst the Arsenal fans, and his versatility has seen him play across the front three as well as in midfield, but some may argue that he is better in central areas than out wide.

He does not offer the same explosive speed as Martinelli, and when the Brazilian has been absent, Arsenal have looked flat in attack with Trossard taking his place.

This may mean that Arteta is better off using the speedier Nelson ahead of Trossard when substituting Martinelli, or it may also mean that Martinelli needs to play for 90 minutes in each game.

Arsenal were previously linked with a move for Pedro Neto, and perhaps adding another speedy attacker to the squad could help solve this problem when trying to change the game from the bench.